Squirrels trashing mason bees?

ltiltonMarch 29, 2014

I had two locations where I put my mason bees. One, easier to climb to, has been totally trashed by - I think - the squirrels. They were in metal cannisters, inside a wooden box. All the tubes were pulled out of the cannisters, chewed to shreds, all the cocoons I could find were bitten open, even the cannisters were pulled out of the box.

The bees in the other location, farther from the fruit trees, were unscathed.

I have a couple dozen new cocoons I had ordered, that I fortunately haven't put out yet, but I'm sure not going to have many bees this season.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of animal attack? Is it likely to be squirrels, as I suppose?